Silicone Thread Lube

[Kustom]

I have a walking foot flatbed sewing machine, and use bonded nylon thread. Should I be spraying the spool with some sort of silicone?

Thanks, Steve

[Luke Hatley]

What size thread and what type of leather will you be sewing ?

[Kustom]

What size thread and what type of leather will you be sewing ?

Luke,

I'm using 138 to sew two pieces of 4/5 veg tan.

[Luke Hatley]

I REALLY DONT THINK YOU WILL NEED IT. TRY IT... IT WOULD NOT HURT.

THE ONLY TIME I USE THREAD LUB IS ON SKIRTING LEATHER WITH 277 AND UP THREAD.

[UKRay]

Steve,

I had to use some silicone lube this week on some very dry 8-9oz veg tan leather that was 'snatching' at the needle as it pulled up. The lube eased the job and speeded things along no end.

I tend to use 138 thread on my flat-bed Highlead machine pretty well all the time as it saves me adjusting tensions if I change thread color. I believe the issue here was the very dry leather, not the thread thickness or type or even the needle size which can occasionally cause some hassles. Like Luke, I sometimes use lube when I'm using a very hefty thread size on really thick leather.

The silicone I use can be squirted very easily onto a little felt pad that then lubes the thread as it passes under it. As the pad is located directly over the needle it tends to lubricate the needle pretty well too.

Ray

[Kustom]

Thanks guys. I'm not really having any problems, I just to know if I could be doing something better.

[Mokosh]

I'm a big fan of this stuff called Sewer's Aid which comes in a squeeze bottle. You can run a thin line of it along the outside of your spool of thread every so often as you sew and it makes sure the thread runs smoothly. It is a lifesaver for metallic and other decorative threads. I also used it when I was getting overly ambitious about sewing a lot of layers on a domestic machine and it really helped things sew more easily, especially true if you're experiencing thread breaking often.